Beyond Personal
by TheLifeILive
Summary: Booth and his newly inaugurated felon partner have a heart to heart after dining and dashing. Warning: more fluff than you can shake a stick at. Post 'Beaver in the Otter'.


**A/N:** This is post 'Beaver in the Otter': a great episode, but there were a couple things that threw me off and so I give you this. I don't know how I feel about the ending, but I hope it makes you smile.

* * *

Brennan was still giggling, yes giggling, as Booth's SUV pulled away from the curb. Booth beamed at her with undisguised affection and knew in his heart that he could never break it to her that they really hadn't done anything bad. So she was still perfect. She turned her flushed face toward him and grinned. God, she was adorable. Even if they had really dined and dashed it would have been completely worth it he thought as he basked in the glow of her rarely disclosed smile. He couldn't help but ponder the fact that it had been making an appearance more often lately and he hoped that he might be part of the reason. He was shaken from his thoughts when she placed her hand on his arm.

"Thank you Booth," she said, sincerity permeating her words.

"Don't thank me Bones, just take the blame if we get fingered for the crime."

Her grin faded. "You don't think they'll figure us out do you?"

She looked so worried that Booth couldn't keep up the gag. "I'm just kidding Bones. Besides, we're the FBI. I'm pretty sure they'll cut us some slack."

"You're right," she sighed, relieved, leaning back in her seat. "Anyway society owes us." Booth raised an eyebrow at her and she hurried to add: "Not that we do what we do to receive any recognition or reward."

Booth laughed.

"Bones, you didn't actually believe that your frontal lobe would remain the size of a raisin as long as you had never consciously done something wrong did you?" He couldn't wrap his mind around his partner thinking something so….unscientific.

"No, of course not. Frontal lobes develop at different rates depending on sex and environment, but everyone's is developed by their thirties whether or not they've been good or bad." She wanted to prattle on, hide her real reason under a mask of scientific jargon, if only to put off his understanding a little bit longer. She stopped herself though, knowing that Booth would only put up with her rambling for so long. Besides, he always knew when she was hiding something.

"Then why were you so worried about having never done anything wrong?"

Brennan looked down at her hands.

"I don't know."

Booth only shook his head. "You never 'don't know' Bones and you never do something without a reason."

"Hey!" she protested. "I can be impulsive."

Booth's look became skeptical.

"Well I could," she asserted," but it never made sense to me to indulge in spontaneity." She internally congratulated herself on directing the conversation down a new avenue.

"Bones," he said warningly.

"What?" she asked, feigning innocence. _Damn!_

"It was a nice attempt at a tangent, but I asked you a question."

"I know," she said stubbornly.

"Are you going to answer the question?" he prodded.

"Maybe it's _personal_." She looked over at him.

"Bones…." he winced. He remembered his words from earlier and, unfortunately, the look on her face when he had brushed her off with them. He knew that the subject of Jared opened some old wounds when it came to Bones, but that was no excuse for basically telling her to butt out of his private affairs.

"Yes?"

"I….you know I didn't mean that."

"You did Booth," she pressed, "or you wouldn't have said it. You clearly have an aspect of your life that you want to keep separate from work and…I can respect that."

"But Bones…you're not just work. You know that right?"

"What do you mean Booth? We work together….that's all," she finished quietly. She thought back to her words to Ken; telling him that outside of her job she was without someone to spend her time with and make a point of speaking to each day. She had begun to carefully collect data on love and emotions lately and she had come to an important conclusion: as much as Booth would clearly rather keep work and personal life separate, she was developing an increasing desire to merge them.

He pulled his vehicle to the side of the road and turned to face her.

"No Bones, that's not just it. It can't be. You know and I know that we're more than work to each other….more than coffee too." He looked her in the eye, forcing her to match his gaze and willing her to understand. "Whatever is personal in my life….it includes you. You're my best friend Bones. Jared asked me again to come to India, but this time as a friend, but I had to tell him honestly that we weren't friends. Me and you though Bones, we're friends….close." He reached out and closed his hand over hers. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize Booth. You did tell me eventually."

"I know, but I shouldn't have shut you out like that."

"So….you feel comfortable sharing things with me? I don't want to push you Booth. If you don't want to tell me something I don't want you to feel obligated." It wasn't as though they had committed to telling each other their deepest secrets or allowing each other into the furthest corners of their lives, but as she found out more about him she had found in herself, for the first time, a desire to be known and understood by someone else, by him.

"Bones, there's no one else that I'd rather share things with. When something good or bad happens you're always the first one to know, honest."

Brennan blushed and diverted her gaze. An inexplicable feeling of joy and pride welled up within her at his heartfelt statement and the immediate wish to reciprocate took hold of her. She wanted....needed him to understand that the sentiment was mutual and to know how good it made her feel to know that he felt that way about her.

"That makes me feel….very honoured Booth."

Now he had to look away. The gratitude he saw shining in her eyes was almost too much.

She continued. "No one's ever said anything like that to me before and…I just want you to know that it goes both ways."

His hand tightened around hers and he couldn't contain his elation. _You know you've got it bad when…._ He knew in that moment that life didn't get much better than this; than having someone in your life who wanted to know you and wanted you to know them, someone who you could share with without the fear of being judged, someone who could take you to Heaven with a single word. He knew without a doubt that he had found that person in the form of the beautiful, blue eyed women sitting next to him.

"That means a lot Bones," he said, leaning in and pressing his lips against her flushed cheek. He knew he had been taking liberties lately; he hadn't been able to help himself: holding her hand, wrapping his arm around her, standing closer than he ever had before, and that was saying something since, even from the beginning, he had never been one to keep his distance.

She blushed again. "I think we figure things out better together."

"We do," he said. The perfect balance of head and heart; how could they go wrong?

As he pulled back onto the road and continued driving he tossed her a teasing glance. "So then you'll tell me?"

"Booth" she groaned.

"What?" he asked. "I thought we'd decided no more secrets?"

She stilled for a moment before nodding.

"I guess I just don't want you to think that I'm not….fully developed because I haven't experienced what you consider a virtual rite of passage. Science might say that I am, more so than others even, but I know your beliefs often differ from academically accepted conclusions…."

His incredulous look silenced her.

"Let me get this strait: Science may say one thing, but you care more about what I think? And to the extent that you'd do somethng illegal?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it as she recognized the undeniable truth in his statement. "I...I guess so."

She sounded so surprised and defeated. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked.

She searched herself for a moment; dug deep. "No….it's not." She brightened at this.

He laughed. "Well, that's good."

They arrived at her apartment building and he wordlessly followed her to her door. She didn't say anything as he trailed after her inside.

"Want something to drink?" she asked.

"No, I'm good." He'd had a couple tonight and really didn't need another one. He was on enough of a high right now after her revelation.

A silence settled between them.

She shifted nervously but met his gaze unflinchingly. He couldn't even count the number of 'moments' they had every day now, but knew that soon one of those moments would become something more, something better, and at last he felt as though both of them were ready.

He took hold of the moment and moved closer to her until there was nothing between them, going slowly so as not to spook her. He gently placed his arms around her and settled her into his embrace before letting his forehead rest against hers.

"Is this okay?" he whispered.

She nodded and breathed out a whisper soft "yes."

He pressed his lips against hers tenderly, sweetly, and she responded immediately. Her hands smoothed up his arms until they rested around his shoulders. Her mouth parted softly against his and he couldn't suppress a moan of complete ecstasy as her velvety soft tongue swept across his lower lip. he allowed himself to be swept away by the moment and from the soft sigh that she had just emitted he was sure she had as well and it made him light-headed.

Each movement of his was perfectly mirrored by her, like an intricate dance they had never rehearsed. He knew their revelations tonight, while significant, had gone unspoken for ages. They had always known each other, shared everything with one another, at times without words, and here it was playing out before them as they stood there locked in each others' embrace.

They parted on a breath and he couldn't contain a small whoop of excitement as he crushed her against him.

"Booth," she laughed. "You're suffocating me."

He let her go and held her at arms length, gazing at her.

"I can't help it Bones. I'm just…so happy."

"Really?"

"Beyond really," he said softly as he placed his lips gently on hers again. She sighed and he could feel her melt against him. When they parted he held her close and whispered in her ear.

"Are you happy Bones?" He needed to know; had to make sure that she wanted this as badly as he did.

"Yes I am," she said, without an ounce of uncertainty.

In that moment no one could tell him that life could get any better.

**The End**


End file.
